Hide and Seek
by AnimeAshley
Summary: Her Uncle is a tyrant; her brother hates most of her family, and she is stuck in the middle of no where. Taylor moves to Forget-Me-Not Valley for her Uncle's sake, but now she wishes she never did after meeting a certain thief. SkyexOC
1. Prologue

**A/N: Okay, so I've never wrote a fanfic before so now I'm giving it my all. ^.^ I do not own Harvest Moon or Skye (T.T), but I do own Taylor, Sora, and about maybe half of Taylor's family that'll make an appearance in this story. Um... I think that covers everything...**

It was cold the winter night as the thief peered into the window of the two-bedroom house. He brushed frost off the window with his pale hand, unfazed by the coldness that stung at his bare hand.

He had quickly learned that it didn't matter much whether he had dressed for the weather. He couldn't feel the sun on his back, and he hasn't felt it since he left his home almost five years ago. It was almost a blessing that he could walk in a blizzard in only boxers and not feel chilled, but sometime the thief missed the feeling of the sun on his neck.

The lone blond farmer laid in her bed, unaware of the mint observed her sleeping figure. He burned the mental picture of the sleeping beauty into his memory before walking away from the window. Every second he spent on this farm put the woman in even more trouble.

The silvered-haired man smirked when he heard the shouts of the mob that was chasing them. After a year, don't you think they would've given up on catching him? He jogged to the safe haven of the solitary barn, jumping the stone fence.

Snow fell from the clouds above as he pulled open the barn door and ducked into the safety of the barn. Running a hand through his hair he shook off the stray snowflakes as he settled himself into a pile of clean hay.

Outside the farmer could be heard arguing with the angry mob, convincing them that the phantom thief wasn't on her farm. Like the last week, she protected him and pissed off the crowd.

Inside the barn he chuckled to himself fingering the latest prize he had obtained. Living in this valley had been his way of escaping, but he knew with the coming his freedom was coming to an end. It was nearing the five years he was given to hide before someone would be searching for him.

A sly smile broke out across his lips at the thought of him actually being captured.

"Bring it on, Sora."

* * *

The green-haired girl bowed to the man that sat in front of her. Still dressed in her school uniform of short grey plaid skirt with a solid grey button down blazer, she waited patiently as her family head read through a folder that, she knew, contained information about her. Why she was picked out of her plentiful family she would never know.

"Top of class, black belt in karate…" He muttered reading through the information. "You just recently graduated didn't you?"

She was surprised that he had directed the question, but hid it as she nodded. "Valedictorian of the class." She muttered looking towards her feet.

"Taylor, look at me when you speak." He commanded firmly. "It says that you were the female to be valedictorian of the school in over 50 years." He continued referring to the folder.

Taylor nodded, looking towards the figure. The room was dim, except for the one light that hung over her head. She could only make out the outline of the furniture and barely the outline of the head of the Korin family. It was a scene similar to a mobster movie. The boss sitting at his desk giving the worker his orders.

"I w-would like to know why I'm here." Taylor stuttered afraid of him lashing out at her. "I still have to house work to tend to."

"Taylor, patience. I need a… favor." His voice hinting a tint of challenge. "Five years ago, I had a… apprentice, of sorts. He was a boy that wanted to live freely and enjoyed challenges. On this day five years ago, I let him travel freely on his own will with the challenge that I would send someone to search for him."

"You wish for me to find this man." Taylor said softly. Her brother would despise this.

"Yes. I have a good idea where he is hiding. You want you to move to this town and find him."

"I don't have much a choice do I?" Taylor dared to ask. "What is his name and age?"

He chuckled fondly at the girl. For only being 18, she was obedient. "Steiner, 19."

"Where is this town?"

"About an hours walk west of Mineral Town. A small valley I'll have your furniture sent before you." The family head continued smiling. "Taylor, when you've settled in, I'll mail you all the information you'll need."

"Yes, Sora." She addressed him by his known name. Knowing that was her cue to be dismissed, Taylor turned to leave pausing only at the door. "Is there anything else I must know?"

"How do you feel about farming, Taylor?"

**A/N: I did forget something! Review or Flame or whatever! I love getting feedback! :)**


	2. Party and Notes

**Author's Note: **Okay, I'm very, very sorry that it took so long to update. School started off on a worse foot than I hoped and I've been fixing that problem, making the writing process very slow. I do have a good start for the next chapter so I'll have that up within the next week if things don't get any busier this week.

* * *

**Taylor's POV**

The winter trees were striped of their leaves. The bare branches dancing in the wind gave me a chilling feeling. Uncle had told me that this valley wasn't much bigger than a few elementary classes put together, but it still didn't make me feel much better about this move. Especially since I was taking over the farm that my cousin Gray's new wife had ran.

I had only met the woman once or twice before at her bachelorette party and their wedding, but she seems like an ambitious woman. From what I did hear from different people, she managed to save a local religious figure and save the valley from certain wrath of the Harvest God. The first time I saw her, I began to doubt what I heard. Claire was a petite blonde, tomboy. She was out-spoken, but she could hold her tongue. She was someone I wished I could be.

From the entrance of the farm it was plain to tell that she was as hard working as people believed. Behind the two-story log house stood a barn and chicken, both made of strong stone. From the few lights that emitted from the house, I could see that the field was completely cleared minus the fruit trees and grass planted in the back of the field.

I wrapped my scarf tighter against my skin as the below zero winds nipped at my nose. Why did I have to get sent out here during winter? With a gloved hand I reached out to knock on the front door. As I waited patiently in the cold snow, I could hear noise in the house quiet down.

Slowly the door opened and a pair of bright blue eyes peered at me through a small crack in the door before pushing the door wide open. Before I could dare breath a sigh of hello, I was being pulled into the building by the front of my jacket by a bit deranged looking Claire.

"Nice to see you too." I said sarcastically readjusting the front of my jacket so it wasn't choking me. I looked around the room to see maybe half a dozen people crowded in the room. "Umm, did I miss something?"

"No, its just…" Claire started to say as calmed down her breathing. "I got a note from a local thief that he was going to steal something from me tonight."

I raised an eyebrow at the crowd of people. "And crowding one room will help? Claire, if you want to catch this person you'll want to have every room guarded, not just the first floor."

I looked around the room, observing the faces of the townsfolk. A tall red-headed woman stood with an older-man with peppered hair and a blonde with glasses. Next to them a girl with long brown hair held back with yellow bandanna was chatting with a different black haired person that resembled Elvis somewhat. On the other side of the room a motherly looking Asian woman was scolding a tan blonde 'beach'-boy while a red head chuckled at the display. A brown-haired man with hypnotizing green eye was talking to a younger fawn haired girl. Gray entered to room as I was looking around and handed Claire a glass of steaming tea.

"Definitely not how to catch a thief." I sighed at the people. I smiled at Gray briefly, pushing some of green hair out of my face. Mostly to myself and Gray I smiled jokingly. "If Vaughn was here…"

I was interrupted by two sharp knocks on the door, and I laughed softly. Out of the corner of my I could see Gray pull down his hat to hide a secret smile. Claire looked at her husband with confusion as I opened the door to let in my brother.

Every since my parents had died 13 years ago, my brother Vaughn seemed to carry a sixth sense to know whenever I was in trouble or needed help. Sometimes it scared me how deadly accurate he could be, but there were also those few times where all I had to do was say his name and he'd show up a few seconds later. With his seemingly goth-ish cowboy attire, Vaughn was fearsome to most people, but he was just an antisocial person that never seemed to trust people.

"You're late." I said jokingly as I let him in. People fell silent as I turned to my cousins. "You mentioned a note earlier?"

Claire nodded her headed, pulling the piece of parchment out of her pocket without taking her eyes off of Vaughn. "Yeah…"

I glanced at the paper.

_Tonight I shall stop by for a visit,_

_I don't plan on leaving empty-handed._

_Phantom Skye_

"Skye, huh?" I mused. "Sounds familiar…" I had heard the name before on the news just before I left the city a week ago. It was city-wide news that it had been the three-year anniversary of the ending of Phantom Thief's thieveries… in that area at least. "Anyways, it won't take too much. Claire, Gray, Vaughn, one other person and I will stay downstairs. The rest of you go upstairs; two to a room, guys stay in the hallway blocking all escape to the first floor got it?"

There were a few reluctant nods and mummers. I looked to Claire for help and she nodded.

"Phantom Skye has been tormenting the valley how long?" A mixed chorus of long enough and three years answered the question as she continued speaking. "Then do as Taylor says. She isn't exactly an amateur when it comes to this type of stuff."

"Thanks for making it sound like a good thing I grew up in Jikogu." I said, sarcasm dripping in my voice. "Despite that, it was a comfortable life." I added on for my brother.

Vaughn wasn't proud that I had spent three years of my life growing-up in _the_ toughest part of the city, but we made mends meet. I studied school from home, while Vaughn worked a day job to buy food and pay rent. Nights were the best though. It started one night when some drunk guy tried breaking into our small adobe. Vaughn managed to knock him out while I called the police, and well almost weekly afterwards someone would attempt to outsmart the two kids that lived upstairs. For about two months we lived like that, and soon child serves got involved when the police (it took almost four years) realized that we were living without parents and forced us under Uncle Sora's care.

"You were the kids that lived in Jokogu and lived?" Green-eyes asked, shock written all over his pretty boy face.

"Depends who's asking." I said bluntly checking Vaughn's reaction. He was visibly angered, but I pushed that aside as I refocused on the person who spoke. He didn't seem agitated like everyone else in the room, if not he had a stance that suggested he was the thief. "We made a name for ourselves, but that was almost ten years ago." I said distantly. Was it really that long ago, before my life was turned upside-down? More importantly… Was it really that fantastic of a subject to talk about?

"Ten years and you think after less than an hour of planning you can catch Phantom Skye?" His eyes burned with taunt.

I bit my lip lightly as I tried to keep from saying anything too rash. I couldn't lose my temper just by saying a few sentences to this guy, but it was sure tempting.

Calmly I walked forward so I was standing right in front of him and looked up to look him in the eye. He had to be a foot taller than me, placing him around 6'5. Brown hair fell in uneven locks to the nape of his neck, also just barely touching the navy blue, button-down shirt that covered his broad shoulders. One glance at his black jeans and semi-formal black shoes and I knew he would've gotten along with Julius with ease.

"I'm just saying it would make more sense if you were spread out a bit more. This is a two-story house." I said waving off his words. "If he skipped over this room, he could get in and out of the house without any of us knowing."

I let him eat my words as I turned towards Gray and Claire. Claire's forgotten tea sat on the coffee table as she talked with Gray. She looked flushed and was using Gray to stand. Putting a hand on her forehead I nearly gave myself first degree burn.

"You have a fever. Go lie down." I commanded my cousin with a scowl. She was out-spoken and stubborn.

"Not until I know my house is safe." She slurred.

'Three… two… one.' Gray's eyes widened when Claire collapsed in his arms, catching her just in time. Before anyone could react I eased the unconscious blonde onto the couch and rushed to the kitchen to fetched a washcloth soaked in cold water.

As I set the cloth on her burning forehead people seemed to realize what had happened and started talking at once. The girl with the yellow bandana was the first to actual direct the question of will she be okay towards me. I assured her it was just the stress of the storm and the theft threat.

Nothing much happened next. Some people left to use the restroom, but the other than that people slowly quieted down as the storm took its toll outside. Bored out of my mind, I gazed out of the window losing myself in thought. I had never gotten an exact answer to why I was chosen out of my countless cousins and family members. I was one of the younger ones, but why did it matter? Gray had Claire, Julius and Amber, Vaughn even was taking an interest in a person he won't tell me about. The more I thought about it I was getting depressed.

"Vaughn, have you heard from Haley recently?" I asked the antisocial wall that hadn't said much since he's arrived. He shook his head briefly like that was the stupidest question he'd ever heard and I sighed directing my gaze back out the window.

Something had changed though. In the few seconds I had turned to talk to Vaughn a small part of the window had frozen over. Taking a closer look at it I realized that it was actually a piece of paper taped to the window. Green-eyes and the guy with Elvis hair slightly complained when I opened the window with no warning, letting snow and cold air into to room.

Reading the note, I let out a moan before pushing it to my cousin. I nearly punched the wall next to me as Gray read the note.

_"As much as I love parties, I must decline the invitation. Have fun. Phantom Skye."_

As he finished reading the note the lights flickered out, leaving us in darkness. This time I really did punch the wall. This is just wonderful.


	3. Necklace

**Author's Note: **I'm not dead yet. I'm sorry it took so long to update, but undesirable things keep sidetracking me. I won't give up on the story, so if I do take a long time to post chapters remember that I'm writing a super long chapter to make up for it.

shanagi95: The lights went out because of the snowstorm and don't assume that Skye didn't make an appearance yet…

Just to make a note, its nearly one in the morning and I do not own Harvest Moon, but I do own Taylor and Sora and the other AU-ish things.

* * *

"How long do you think it would take, Taylor?" Was my Uncle really asking me this? "You were sent because of your tendencies of shortening things."

I curled a piece of green hair around my finger almost tuning out Sora as his lecture over the phone. It was a lot easier to talk to the intimidating man over the phone, mainly because he did not have goons standing around you ready to scare to crap if you disagreed with him.

"Well, Uncle, there is so much I can do with only a name and age." I answered as if I was talking him face-to-face. "But, after meeting most of the possible people in the valley, I can assure you I can be done within the year."

"Most of the villagers?" Leave it to Sora to notice the little things.

"Apparently there is an infamous thief that visit's the valley regularly. I've asked about him, but guys scoff at the name and girls go gaga."

"Sounds like a Casanova." A more laid back piped up through the phone. I smiled, but Sora coughed, obviously annoyed.

"Hey, Mark!" I greeted through the phone, much to Uncle's distaste. He was not keeping me from saying hi to my youngest cousin. "Maybe but I'll wait to find that out until I've actual end up meeting him."

"Whatever, anyways you won't believe what I heard!" Mark started to say, only to quickly change his mind, probably getting a sharp look from Sora. "Umm… I'll tell you later."

"Of course… I'm sure Uncle isn't happy with us right now." I sighed looking down towards the table.

Sora Korin, or Uncle as he preferred to be called, was a terrifying man. He held connections in the city that people could only dream of having. Mafia, government, law enforcement, you name it and he has an inside person that gives him the control over every aspect of the city. It also made him impatient when someone interrupted him during a business call, and apparently, I fit under that category.

"I do have one question, Uncle." I asked hesitantly. Some had been bothering me since I met with him that snowy night almost a season ago. Within the week, my stuff had been packed and shipped out here, me following it only a day later to come to the mess of the thief. "You have such strong ties within everywhere, why are you making such a big deal over one person that is obviously hiding from you?"

Sora was quiet. I almost thought that I had lost signal, when he answered softly but harshly. "It is none of you business."

"I completely uprooted my whole life because you ordered me out here. You made it my business." I snapped at the phone, immediately burying my face in my hands. Please, please don't yell at me.

"Steiner knows enough to destroy me. Taylor, be cautious. He isn't one to give up easily." Uncle sighed into the phone. "This thief, he also sounds like he won't stop at a few threats."

* * *

Night fell quickly as I finished the farm chores and shipped the last harvest of strawberries for the season. Remembering Lumina's birthday the next day, I kept a few to make her some strawberry milk, then headed down to the bar with an overnight bag.

For Lumina's birthday, we decided a sleepover would be best, and then tomorrow we would spend the morning celebrating her 19th birthday. Nami and Celia promised to come a bit early, because they could get away early enough to help set up; sadly, Muffy and I had to work still, and it was decided that I would meet up with Muffy at the bar near the end of her shift and we'd walk together to the mansion and arrive about nine-ish.

Of course, nothing ever goes to plan and it had to be one of their busier nights. Being the good friend I am, I waited for Muffy patiently for an extra hour, drinking a Moo-Moo Milk. I was almost surprised when an unwanted brown haired person sat down easily next to me. The same person from the cold winter night almost a season ago.

"What do you want, Aaron?"

"A person can't just sit to say hello? I'm insulted, Taylor." Green-eyes faked a sad voice before going into a serious voice. "Yeah, you're right. I just wanted to warn you about Phantom Skye. I heard that he left a note somewhere nearby."

"Thanks for your concern, but I don't need it. I have a run in with the thief; I have a run in with the thief. Big deal. Doesn't Ruby need your help tonight though after what Rock did yesterday?"

Aaron, though we started on a bad foot, wasn't that bad of a person. To pay for a room he helped Ruby around the Inn. Almost daily though, when I was at the Inn learning to cook from Ruby, he made time just to bother me. Ruby would laugh it off, but it bothered that he knew enough to tease me when we never really talked on friendly terms.

"I took tonight off and promised to pick up hours during the next week." He explained standing up again. "Just watch your back. You shouldn't get caught up in a mess like this."

"Look, Aaron, I appreciate your concern, but if you even knew a quarter of what my life has been in the last eight years you'd know I don't need the warning."

He opened his mouth with a comeback, but I sent him a glare that shut him up. He shrugged it off before leaving the bar. Rolling my eyes in disgust, I looked down at my drink in thought. How did he know that the thief was striking somewhere tonight?

Before I could think of any possible explanation for the question, Muffy came out of the backroom carrying a hot pink overnight bag and set it down in the seat next to me.

I smiled up at her, "Ready?"

She nodded and I gathered my bag up. With a quick wave to Griffin, we left the building as he started to put chairs on tables. Almost immediately, after we left the bar, Muffy grabbed my arm and stopped me.

"What was that 20 minutes ago?" She asked eagerly.

"Hmm?"

"Aaron sat down next to, you guys talked for like two minutes and he just left!" She exclaimed.

My mouth turned into a 'o', before chuckling. "Apparently he heard Phantom Thief was striking somewhere tonight and was warning me."

"What?" Muffy stopped walking. I turned back towards her shrugging.

"I know, don't you think we would've heard about it? Especially after the extra hour you had to work."

"Of all days for bad things to happen." Muffy complained, reflecting on the overtime. "It's always days I have something planned."

"Maybe the world is out to get you." I offered jokingly; glad to get off the subject.

"Honey, as long as I've held a boy. I wouldn't be surprised." Muffy sighed.

"What about…?" I had started asking when the front door of the golden mansion swung open.

We were only just entering the gates of the property, so it would have been too soon for Ms. Ramona's butler Sebastian to greet us.

A single shadow slid out from the house, and Muffy gripped tightly on my left arm as she watched the person move across the small porch.

"Is that the thief?" I murmured under my breath to Muffy, who only gripped my arm tighter and nodded. "Calm down."

Slowly and quietly, Phantom Skye waltzed towards stopping only when we were about five meters away from each other. The moonlight shined against his silver hair and I nearly screamed then. The same green-eyes smirked at me as the first night I came to the valley. The familiar cat-like facial structure and skin tone.

"H-how?" I breathed. Neither acknowledged my realization. Skye was the same brown-haired man that I had argued with that winter night. He… was Aaron, a brown-haired good guy that helped around the inn for Ruby, or more like Aaron was Skye.

My eye narrowed as he stopped a little less than 3 meters, looking at us with amusement.

"It isn't safe for such two beautiful maidens to walk around so late at night." He said smoothly.

Looking at Muffy out of the corner of my eye I could tell that she was blushing at the compliment, but something was off about him.

"It also isn't a good idea for a thief to leave a note beforehand, but you do anyways." I said, smiling. Aaron, I mean Skye, isn't getting out of this so easily.

He smirked at the comeback, and Muffy nearly squeaked when he closed the distance between us. "Who knows what type of creeps wait under the cover of darkness to harm innocent maidens?"

"Like you?" I shot back, nearly smiling. He was making this too easy.

A pain expression shot across his face, and Muffy looked at me with a horrid expression. "If you don't want to hear it then don't set me up for it."

Phantom Skye was about to say something, but was interrupted when the manor door swung open forcefully and Lumina, Celia, Nami filed out of the house. All of them looked pissed, and I smirked until I saw his face. He didn't seem to care that he was outnumber five to one.

"Give back the necklace." Nami growled, as they got closer.

"It seems I'm popular with all the beautiful maidens tonight." He said softly, almost suggestively, as he ignored the comment.

I looked at the other girls, who managed to surround him in a circle, with disbelief. It was not surprised as much to see Lumina and Muffy blushing at the compliment, but Celia, one of the most modest girls you could meet had turned red. The worst part, Nami the one person who would never fall for such cheesy load of bull had even turned rosy in the cheeks.

My temper rose when my eyes locked on his. He seemed to watch me with confusion and interest that I wasn't affected much by the compliments. I blinked when a frown crossed his lips quickly became a smirk.

"Give back the necklace." I repeated Nami's threat.

He didn't make any attempts at any movements, and I clenched my jaw. I was almost relieved when he reached into his pocket, but he did not remove anything from the pocket. Slowly, he moved towards Lumina and Celia. I watched him carefully as he something softly to the two girls, but my attention averted towards the duo when they became even redder and they fainted.

Muffy, Nami, and I rushed over to the two to help them. It couldn't have been half a minute later when I went to glare at the Phantom, only to curse his name. He had disappeared. Unbelievable, he said something to them to make them faint so he could escape. Wait, maybe that was believable, but still who would go so low to do that?

About five minutes later the three of us managed to get them situated on Lumina's bed on the second floor of the manor. It had been hard carrying them up the stairs, but nothing could be done.

Sitting down in an over-sized cream plush reading chair, I sighed. "How the hell did he do that?"

"That's Phantom Skye for ya." Nami said monotonously. She lounged on a dark blood red sleep back, clad in navy blue pajama pants and a rose red tank top.

"Why tonight though?" Muffy complained sitting Indian style, on her pastel yellow sleeping bag. She was now dressed in a nice powder blue sleeping gown and played with her blonde hair unconsciously.

"Is it just me or does he look a lot like Aaron?" I asked picking at a stray thread on the chair. "I mean like put a brown wig on him…" They were the same person! I wanted to yell it at them. How could they be so clueless?

"Put a brown wig on him and…?" Muffy asked yawning.

I didn't answer as I pushed myself up out of the chair. Thankful I hadn't changed out of my outdoor clothing yet I opened the door of Lumina's room. "I'll be right back." I called over my shoulder leaving the two confused.

* * *

I just needed to pray. Whether she is a legend or not, I needed someone to talk to and the Harvest Goddess probably was my best bet right now. Walking past my farm and up the paths towards the Goddess' Pond, I paused long enough to pick a Moondrop Flower for an offering before heading towards the pond. I nearly had lost my mind when, of course, Phantom Thief Skye was standing over the pond himself.

"So, what happens now?" I asked sweetly standing my ground.

He looked up, slightly surprised then he smirked. "Hmm, what could I have done to be blessed with the presence of such a beautiful maiden?"

"Pure chance." I glowered, moving next to the pond. "Won't Ruby be upset to find that her prized worker is Phantom Thief?"

"I assure you, I have no idea what you are talking about." He answered firmly. I glared at him before letting the flower fall into the pond, praying a quick prayer.

"You're saying that Aaron isn't just a disguise for you to walk freely in the valley during the day?"

He kept silent at the accusation, and I continued speaking. "Cause, honestly Phantom Thief, he knew you were going to strike before Muffy or Griffin, whom both work at a bar where gossip like that would spread quicker than a wild fire. Also you both share some uncommon characteristics."

"Really now?" Was all he had to say. I was shocked that he had been listening.

"Bright green eyes, similar facial structure…" I listed carefully, "You don't even change your vocal pitch. You just talk in a more common dialect."

He smiled softly, and I felt my throat tighten. I could feel myself start to shake in frustration, but he was so calm.

"You're very observant, Taylor, but you are mistaken."

"Then how do you know my name? It hasn't been mentioned by anyone in your presence."

He chuckled softly, looking into the mesmerizing waters of the pond. "The same way you already knew of me. You are a face known by most of the city."

I looked away from him scowling. Since Sora had the influence he had, I had become the target of many tabloids and magazine articles, many of them trying to ruin his name through me. It had become to a point I couldn't go shopping without people stopping me, or the paparazzi ambushing me.

"It is getting late, and a beautiful maiden such as you shouldn't be out." He went on saying, and much to my dismay, I could feel my cheeks redden. "I must jet, but we shall meet again, it's in the stars."

As he walked by, I reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his leopard print jacket. It looked like something Julius would've wore or even designed. "You aren't going anywhere until I have that necklace you stole."

"What type of thief would I be if I just gave you the necklace?" He chuckled, but didn't make any movements towards stopping me.

I felt revolted at myself for reaching so low to flirt with him, but I smirked outwardly. I reached up and touched his cheek softly, letting my fingers drag down under his chin gently. He had amazingly soft skin, and I couldn't help to bite my lip.

Softly, I whispered, "You'd gain my respect, for being a thief."

He smirked, and before I could react, he easily had me back up against a tree. My heart jumped to my throat as he trapped against the tree, one fist just above my head.

"You shouldn't tease." Skye whispered in my ear, making me blush. What happened to me being indifferent? "I might stop thinking with my head."

"You'd be d-dead within a w-week." I stuttered, trying not to looking in his intense green eyes. "My brother would hunt you down himself if you dared touching me."

The thief brought up his free hand and gripped my chin lightly. He had my head turned making it impossible not to look in those mint colored eyes. His face was incredibly close to mine, and I was vaguely aware of his sweet breath blowing softly across my face as he chuckled.

"That sounds like an empty threat, Taylor."

'So?' I wanted to ask, but my voice was lost. He smirked at my loss of words and backed away.

"Goodnight, beautiful." He said, disappearing into the night.

I stared into the night for a few minutes. I couldn't breathe regularly. Using the giant oak tree for support, I closed my eyes. What had happened to me? A few compliments and I was ready to faint, just like Lumina and Celia. That was what everyone was warning me. Even Sora.

I laughed humorlessly to myself, before standing up. It was late and Muffy and Nami… Well no, Muffy is probably freaking out by now. I really didn't feel up to the hike back to the mansion, but my clothes were also in my overnight bag that was conveniently sitting in Lumina's room. Dang.

* * *

"What the heck were you thinking, Taylor? You know there is a thief out there, but you went out anyways!" Muffy scolded half asleep.

Nami just smirked as she tried to criticize me.

"I didn't expect to actually end up running into him!" I shot back, leaning my head on the same couch as before.

Lumina and Celia watched us banter with curiosity despite it was near one in the morning. Muffy had been lightly dozing when I re-entered the room. As if instincts had kicked in, she perked up when I sat down and started scolding me.

"What if he kidnapped you?" Muffy asked, her words starting to slur.

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have done that. Vaughn would've tracked me down within twelve hours." I waved off the question.

"So what really happened?" Lumina asked, perking up from her nap.

"Well, after we brought you two inside, I got impatient and needed some fresh air. So, I went to the Goddess Pond. He was there, and we talked." I replayed the events, skipping over my suspicion of Skye being Aaron or vise versa. "I tried to get the necklace back, but now I get why guys despise him so much."

I could feel a blush creep across my cheeks, and I reached into my pocket as a nervous habit. I blinked. There was something in my previously empty pocket. Pulling my hand out, I gaped as I pulled the same necklace that was stolen hours ago was hanging from my hand.

"You got the necklace back!" Lumina squealed taking it from me. "You said he wouldn't give it back?" She went into curiosity.

"He said he wouldn't." I said, equally confused. "When I tried taking it forcefully, he backed me up against the oversized tree next to the pond. He had me wrapped around his fingers." I added on miserably.

"A few compliments can do that, can it?" Celia muttered, staring intently on a pattern on the ceiling.

All of us, but Muffy, who had fallen asleep, agreed with her.

"Taylor. You were saying something before you left." Nami said suddenly. I thought back and nodded.

"Yeah," I yawned. "I was saying how Skye and Aaron look almost identical. Give Skye brown hair and they could be the same person."

They thought about it for a minute before laughing. I pouted, crossing my arms. They did look alike.

"I'm sorry, Taylor, Aaron being Phantom Skye?" Celia apologized as soon as she could breathe.

"Aaron is just too much of a buddy type person." Lumina added on.

"Whatever you say." I shrugged. "The coincidence is just too big for me to ignore."

"Now that I think about it. You and Aaron never got along after that first night, have you?" Lumina questioned.

"He bothers you when you talk to Ruby." Nami stated.

"Yeah, but we were just starting to get along today too." I sighed. Looking at their confused faces, I continued to explain how he knew about the note and warned me about it at the bar.

"I didn't tell anyone about the note though." Lumina shook her head. "Grandma and I thought it was one of Rock's pranks."

"Eh, whatever. We should go to sleep. It's super late." I yawned.

While I changed into my pajamas the other three settled, and we all said our goodnight after we turned out the lights a laid down.

I didn't fall asleep right away, because my mind kept drifting back to the pond. I almost jumped a foot when Nami whispered my name from her spot.

"You really think Aaron is Phantom Skye, don't ya?"

"If I could, I would prove it." I muttered back.

She didn't say anything else, and slowly I fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

Nami leaned against a fence post as I brushed down my horse, Cocoa. The summer weather had been delightful so far, so after my chores I managed to convince Nami to go to the beach with me after my farm chore were finished. Pineapples grew slowly under the sun's heat along one part of the field and chickens pecked the ground lazily.

"How do you plan proving it?" Nami asked, breaking the silence.

"Prove what?" I looked over Cocoa's back to the redhead.

She rolled her eyes and with a smirk replied, "Aaron and Skye are the same people."

I bit my lip, before shaking my head. "I don't know yet. Unless I can get physical proof, I'm basically screwed."

"Physical appearance doesn't count?" Nami thought over. She had told me earlier how she had put thought into the similarities and agreed it was possible, but she still doubted the theory.

"Not when anyone could argue my own brother looks like Phantom Thief." I answered glumly.

Nami only chuckled as I put the brush away and I sent her a mock glare. "Let's go. I'm done with the chores."

At the beach, we headed towards the Snack Shack. Nami protested a bit, but I urged her over since it was hot and I wanted a snow cone.

"Can we get two snow cones?" I asked sweetly to the person standing behind the counter.

From the back, his purple bandana covered short dark hair and his tanned hands worked multiple cook utensils as if he were only sorting papers. He also seemed familiar.

"One second." He answered, finishing the task. Wiping his hands on a rag, he turned around smiling.

"Kai!" I gasped when his brown eyes met my own amethyst eyes.

"Taylor?" He seemed dumbfounded as I reached over the counter and gave him a quick hug. "What eight years now?"

"Just about. Managed to escape about a season and a half ago." I smiled sitting down.

"So you're free?" He leaned against the counter.

"Not exactly, but I at least I'm not under the same roof." I tapped a finger on the counter. "Anyways, I would've never guessed that you owned the Snack Shack. People were always talking about a big festival on the beach the first day of summer…"

"Yeah," He chuckled. "Storms held me up on Sunny Island."

"How's Denny doing? Still head over heels for that pop star?"

"Yeah actually, they've been dating a while. He's thinking of proposing, but is very unsure of himself right now."

"Tell him…" I started to say when Nami cleared her throat. She frowned at me brief and I giggled. "Sorry. Nami, Kai is one of my many cousins."

"Many the understatement." Kai muttered on his breath.

"There's only Gray, Claire, Mark, Haley, Julius, Julia, Denny, you, Vaughn, and me." I shrugged. "Anyways can we get some snow cones, please?"

He nodded and went to making the order. I didn't miss the look Nami gave me. "Eight cousins?"

I shrugged. "It was… interesting, for lack of a better word."

"Must've made heck of a holiday." Aaron/Skye sat down on the other side of me.

I glared at him, but felt sad at the mention of holidays. Memories of sitting in the cold stone building overwhelmed me. Vaughn tried to make it a good holiday for me, but it was lonely for both of us without our parents. I fought tears that threatened to escape by closing my eyes.

"Our family isn't that close." Kai spoke up, setting down the snow cones in front of Nami and me. "Hardly, if ever, would the family get together to celebrate."

'Not since daddy died.' I added on mentally sighing. "It'll be different this year. Speaking of family, have you heard from Julius and or Haley?"

Kai shook his head curtly. "Not recently. It's usually later in the year I see them. How is Vaughn doing?"

I shrugged. Vaughn loathed our family. The only people he got along with were Julia, Aunt Mirabelle, Uncle Sora (by force), and I. "He's a lot less stressed out. He won't talk to me about it, but he's been in a better mood lately."

"Denny told me that he's seen Vaughn hanging out with the farmer out on Sunny Island a lot lately." Kai thought carefully. "Maybe she has something to do with that."

I smiled at the thought. "Aw… Vaughn got a girlfriend!"

A dark shadow fell over me, blocking out the sun. I could feel the temperature drop a few degrees and I shuddered. With the look on Kai's face and the silence from Nami and Aaron/Skye meant one thing. A giant gothic cowboy in black and brown clothes managed to sneak up on me and hear every word I just said.

I turned around in my stool and could see the outline of his Stetson cowboy hat and chin length silver hair. His amethyst eyes pierced like daggers into my own eyes of the same of purple.

"Taylor…" His voice was deep and gruff.

"Vaughn." I matched his tone, cutting him off. "How long did you think you'd keep it a secret? We have family everywhere."

It was true. With Gray now in Mineral Town with Claire, Julia and Denny were on Sunshine Island. Julius, Haley, and Amber were on Waffle Island and me in Forget-Me-Not Valley. Then random family here and there and everywhere, it made it very difficult to keep secrets. Another reason why Vaughn hated the family.

He glowered at me before staring off towards the ocean. I sighed softly, standing up to touch his shoulder. He flinched slightly, and I blinked. Vaughn was never jumpy… Unless it dealt with Uncle.

"He'll understand." I whispered, so soft I was unsure I had said anything. "It doesn't matter what he has to say on this."

"He'll still prevent it."

"Then run." I snapped, louder than it could have been. "Get away from here and live your happy life."

I could feel the surprised gazes on my neck because of my sudden outburst, but I only focused on the man in front of me. He looked at me, also surprised, but a hint of a smile pulled at the corners of my life.

"For the last 14 years, you selflessly raised me when no one else when you were only a kid yourself. You deserve to have a happy ending despite what people say." I sighed. "You're going to ruin your life if you don't do what you want."

"We'll talk about that later." He frowned again. "Uncle asked me to send you a message."

"Can it wait 'til tomorrow?" I asked, looking towards the sinking sun. Time really passed quickly in this valley. "Get some sleep then discuss things."

* * *

"Get out if you're going to be an ass." I stated pointedly at the silver-haired jerk that sat contently at the dining room table. Slowly, he drank some coffee I had offered him earlier.

I was just waking up when I heard someone pounding on the door. After pulling on some decent clothes I opened the door to reveal the depressing cowboy that was back to discuss whatever Uncle wanted me to know. Letting my brother in, he wordlessly followed me to the kitchen. It was already obvious it was not a fun visit.

"I'm only relaying what Sora told me." He simply said, despite my outburst.

"Well then tell dear, old Uncle that I'm not going." I growled at him dropping my dirty empty coffee cup noisily in the sink.

"You know this isn't a request." He said as I started washing dirty dishes left from the past few days.

"It never is!" I wanted to shout, but instead I flung my hands up in the air and accidentally splashed Vaughn with soapy water. "He decides every aspect of our lives. Why not this too?" My ranted started shifting towards slow sobs. "What did we do to deserve this, Vaughn?"

Vaughn just sighed and patted my back as I sobbed into his shirt. "Our parents passed away, and he was the only one that could afford to care for us at the time."

This wasn't new for me to breakdown like this. Vaughn knew it and I knew it, but he knew it was how I dealt with the death of our parents. It was unhealthy, but it allowed me to deal with multiple problems at once.

"You're really leaving?" I asked quietly, looking him in the eye. Thankfully, his cowboy hat was on the table, making it impossible for him to hide the blush that tinted his cheeks.

"Her house is being rebuilt this week. I'm moving in next Tuesday." He answered, pain flickering in his eyes so quickly I would've missed it had I blinked. "I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone."

"As long as you keep in touch. You deserve the happiness." I smiled pushing at his shoulder lightly. "How about Monday we go down to the bar to celebrate?"

"Fine," He said pulling on his black Stetson, "See you then."

I saw him out, before I went back to what was left of the dishes. As I scrubbed plate after plate, my slowly wandered back to Uncle's 'invitation'.

A masquerade, according to Vaughn. A formal ball. A formal dance with masks and dresses. When dresses were involved it usually meant dancing. Dancing meant dates. Oh, great.

If it involved a date, Uncle was surely planning something. If it involved me, the plan probably involved the Steiner person.

As if on cue, like always, the first ten seconds of Speak Softly Love emitted loudly from my phone. I grimaced, considering ignoring the call, but I pushed the thought away.

"Good Morning, Uncle." I answered the phone pleasantly.

"Vaughn has spoken to you, is that right?" Sora stated first thing. I rolled my eyes at his quick deduction.

"Yes, Uncle. I'm going to assume I am to bring Steiner as a date." I confirmed. I could see him nodding his head every so slightly.

"Yes, but there is also more you need to know." He said. "I've researched the Phantom Thief you mentioned. He has no recorded history before the start of his thefts almost five years ago."

"Lining him up, time wise, with Steiner's departure." I voiced my thought aloud.

"Exactly."

I thought for a minute. Steiner left Sora two seasons short of five years ago. Skye/Aaron has been around for the valley three years, and Skye had a reputation in the city two years prior to that. Then before that, no one knew of Skye's life. It all lined up.

"I'll look into it." I assured Sora before bidding him goodbye. I had some work to do now.


End file.
